How ADHD Meds Affect the Brain

This is an ADHD brain. [Overlapping sounds]

Uhh— Not that, not that. This is a brain, and this is the prefrontal cortex. It is crucial for attention, focus, and planning. [Miscellaneous sounds]

The prefrontal cortex and ADHD brains have smaller volume and less activity compared to neurotypical brains. Likewise, the cerebellum, hippocampus, basal ganglia, and amygdala, which are responsible for motor coordination, memory, reward processing, and emotional processing, respectively, are also sized abnormally in ADHD brains.

Um, actually, there's also chemical differences, not just structural differences. You're actually right. There's also chemical differences.

There's these fancy neurotransmitters with long names including norep—, norep—, norepene—, norepenephrine—, norepene—, nore—, norepen—, norepenephrine—, norep—, [boom] norepinephrine and dopamine, are neurotransmitters that are involved in attention, focus, and motivation. Neurotransmitters are basically chemical messengers. Because people with ADHD have all of these chemical and structural differences in the brain, they tend to forget a lot of things, struggle with motivation, and literally find it easier to do a somersault off of the Golden Gate Bridge than get out of bed.

This is why we use dru— I mean FDA approved medication to treat ADHD. I'll only be talking about stimulants in this video, but there's also non-stimulant options like SNRIs.

I think one of the most well-known ADHD meds is Adderall. Adderall is amphetamine and has two versions, instant release and extended release. They say exactly what they mean. Actually, I think you mean they mean exactly what they say. 

Anyways, the instant-release version of Adderall, or Adderall IR, is a type of Adderall that you take whenever you need. The effects last for about 5 to 8 hours, which is why some people decide to take it twice a day. The extended-release version of Adderall is called Adderall XR. Yes, I had a question, but I forgot. Adderall XR, on the other hand, lasts for about 10 to 12 hours.

Wait, so like if I take this pill, does it just swap my brain to a neurotypical one? Um…

Stimulants work by increasing chemicals in the brain, including norepinephrine and dopamine. As mentioned before, Adderall is something called an amphetamine, which is just the name of the drug. But methylphenidate is the other type of drug that treats ADHD, but the two work a bit differently. This is how methylphenidate works. It increases levels of neurotransmitters by blocking their reuptake. That's just a fancy way to say “meds in neurotransmitters no, no, reabsorb.” When a neurotransmitter is reabsorbed, it restricts the amount of neurotransmitters that are circulating in the brain. But when this guy limits reuptake, it prevents them from doing that, which increases the availability of these neurotransmitters. Maybe this door is locked? Hello? Hello? Knock knock.

But Adderall is an amphetamine/dextroamphetamine, which means that they go into the nerve terminal, causing it to release more dopamine. Amphetamine enters dopamine neurons through these entry proteins, which are like gates. Once they're inside, they cause a nerve terminal to release more dopamine.

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What if you get addicted to it? Well, while they are controlled substances and therefore have the potential to be misused, under the supervision of whoever is giving you these, hopefully a doctor, stimulant medication is safe. We also forget to take them. Did you also forget to charge their camera? What? No. No, of course not.